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WESTONE 3 IMPRESSIONS AND APPRECIATION THREAD - Page 58

post #856 of 1755
12/6/08 at 1:54am
are you talking about the bore? I had the shure's and I never felt that way though I am worried about the sound stage because I found the sound stage to be better on the tf10's then the 530's and I think that was due to the way that it had that large 2 way split bore
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post #857 of 1755
12/6/08 at 2:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by darkninja67 View Post
I would love to see what you have to say comparing the W3 to the Shures. Looking for someone to be honest with none of the usual "The W3 sounds wonderful like angels licking your eardrums" type of stuff.
I hate "wet willys". No ear drum licking accepted here.
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post #858 of 1755
12/6/08 at 2:20am
not the bore, the very thin tube housed in thin walled plastic. ive seen broken um2 and e500, sa6 and others. i think it is a strange design addendum to construct 400$ phones with a deathstar-style self destruction mechanism. im sure most people suffer no problems but i never felt safe about changing tips with um2, sa6 or e500
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post #859 of 1755
12/6/08 at 2:29am
I never felt that way but I think it would take some hard force to rip them off way beyond changing tips
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post #860 of 1755
12/6/08 at 2:31am
Isnt that the bore? The tube where u put the sleeves on? Or i mistaken it for other parts?
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post #861 of 1755
12/6/08 at 2:56am
I was thinking the same thing but idk bore technically also means circumference of a pipe so I tend not to call it that
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post #862 of 1755
12/6/08 at 3:00am
No clue on the MS cashback?

I'm inching closer and close to getting them at full price now. X_X
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post #863 of 1755
12/6/08 at 4:14am
Quote:
Originally Posted by darkninja67 View Post
I would love to see what you have to say comparing the W3 to the Shures. Looking for someone to be honest with none of the usual "The W3 sounds wonderful like angels licking your eardrums" type of stuff.


For the last week I have compared my E530s to my new 3's, unamped out of my Iphone 3g and then amped out of my predator via ALO silver from a Nano using my best samples on my train commute into my office.

I have used my Shures now every day for almost 2 years as I bought them when they first came out. i have considered them to be the best of the best for sound, fit and finish. I tried the Triple Fis and neither the fit or signature ever did it for me.

There is nothing I have heard to date the sounds better across the spectrum in universal fit IEMS than the 3’s. The 3s, IMO beat the E530s across the board and yes again IMO even in the mids.. the highs are the best I have heard to date (over an ER4P or S), the bottom is just superb and the fit in my ear with the mid soft flex tips is about as perfect as I have found to date. I like the olives but they get messed up and the soft flexes seem to slip in and out easy with a solid feel. I wear these 5 days a week for 3-4 hours. I alternated IEMS on the routes out and back for 5 days with amped and unamped samples. There was not a song or a day that the 3s didnt clearly come out on top and I was really hoping they were close out of courtesy to my faithful Shures.

Unamped they both can be driven just fine off an IPhone, amped they both sound better in the bottom end and presence and depth of field along with imaging seem to improve, but not like an amp makes say a Senn or Beyer stand out. Both are very comfortable, but I would have to say that after an hour the Westones just completely disappear.. the Shures you always know are there but stay comfortable. Both have good isolation, but again the Westones for me using soft flex tips beat out the Shures with Olives (my previous favorites).

I just received my new E530s as a return, courtesy of Shure, and gave them to a friend at work who would appreciate them, they were on top of their game 2 years ago and right up until Westone started to ship the 3, I have respect for both companies and what they accomplished. It seems like a lot of fan fair for the Westones like there was for the Shures when they came out.. but in my mind there is clearly a new champion for universal fit IEMS, regardless of driver count or cost, these 3’s are just superb. Every IEM I have listened to has holes, My new X10s, ER4P/S, E530, IM760 all of them.. The 3’s just do everything so well and I cannot tell where the cross over points are none of the 3 armatures stand out, they all just work flawlessly together and I get the crisp highs, the smooth mids and the tight bottom end that I have been looking for. I wont be actively looking for another IEM like I have been these past 2 years… I could actually get used to wearing these at home more in place of my full sized cans (RS1, D2000,650, DT880 and 770) they are that good, something I would never have considered with my E530s.

Again, hats off to Westone for taking the heat and waiting to get these right, its clear that everything they wanted is in the final product. Superb product and easily worth the full price of 399. Compared to even discounted prices for the 530 they are a great value.
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post #864 of 1755
12/6/08 at 4:32am
Quote:
Originally Posted by DestradoImpulse View Post
No clue on the MS cashback?

I'm inching closer and close to getting them at full price now. X_X
MS Live cashback is back at 15%.
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post #865 of 1755
12/6/08 at 4:33am
Quote:
Originally Posted by CMasten View Post

For the last week I have compared my E530s to my new 3's, unamped out of my Iphone 3g and then amped out of my predator via ALO silver from a Nano using my best samples on my train commute into my office.

I have used my Shures now every day for almost 2 years as I bought them when they first came out. i have considered them to be the best of the best for sound, fit and finish. I tried the Triple Fis and neither the fit or signature ever did it for me.

There is nothing I have heard to date the sounds better across the spectrum in universal fit IEMS than the 3’s. The 3s, IMO beat the E530s across the board and yes again IMO even in the mids.. the highs are the best I have heard to date (over an ER4P or S), the bottom is just superb and the fit in my ear with the mid soft flex tips is about as perfect as I have found to date. I like the olives but they get messed up and the soft flexes seem to slip in and out easy with a solid feel. I wear these 5 days a week for 3-4 hours. I alternated IEMS on the routes out and back for 5 days with amped and unamped samples. There was not a song or a day that the 3s didnt clearly come out on top and I was really hoping they were close out of courtesy to my faithful Shures.

Unamped they both can be driven just fine off an IPhone, amped they both sound better in the bottom end and presence and depth of field along with imaging seem to improve, but not like an amp makes say a Senn or Beyer stand out. Both are very comfortable, but I would have to say that after an hour the Westones just completely disappear.. the Shures you always know are there but stay comfortable. Both have good isolation, but again the Westones for me using soft flex tips beat out the Shures with Olives (my previous favorites).

I just received my new E530s as a return, courtesy of Shure, and gave them to a friend at work who would appreciate them, they were on top of their game 2 years ago and right up until Westone started to ship the 3, I have respect for both companies and what they accomplished. It seems like a lot of fan fair for the Westones like there was for the Shures when they came out.. but in my mind there is clearly a new champion for universal fit IEMS, regardless of driver count or cost, these 3’s are just superb. Every IEM I have listened to has holes, My new X10s, ER4P/S, E530, IM760 all of them.. The 3’s just do everything so well and I cannot tell where the cross over points are none of the 3 armatures stand out, they all just work flawlessly together and I get the crisp highs, the smooth mids and the tight bottom end that I have been looking for. I wont be actively looking for another IEM like I have been these past 2 years… I could actually get used to wearing these at home more in place of my full sized cans (RS1, D2000,650, DT880 and 770) they are that good, something I would never have considered with my E530s.

Again, hats off to Westone for taking the heat and waiting to get these right, its clear that everything they wanted is in the final product. Superb product and easily worth the full price of 399. Compared to even discounted prices for the 530 they are a great value.
Great post! I added a link to it with many other links to impressions at the bottom of the first post of my Westone 3 review. http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f103/r...thread-386477/
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post #866 of 1755
12/6/08 at 5:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hooran View Post
Man... these sound so good! Playing Daft Punk's Aerodynamic ...

And I thought I was going to sell them
Hell yeah.

That's all I'll say .
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post #867 of 1755
12/6/08 at 5:32am
Quote:
Originally Posted by darkninja67 View Post
I would love to see what you have to say comparing the W3 to the Shures. Looking for someone to be honest with none of the usual "The W3 sounds wonderful like angels licking your eardrums" type of stuff.
HAhahaha.... Agreed .
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post #868 of 1755
12/6/08 at 6:43am
Thanks CMasten, you probably cost me $400.

Excellent review and impressions though. I own the Etymotic ER4P and loved them before my current Shures. I also own the iPhone and your review helped a lot.

I would probably run unamped for awhile but eventually will add the RSA P-51 or the iBasso D3.

I just have to work a few more doubles now to afford them.
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post #869 of 1755
12/6/08 at 2:11pm
this is so painful I teeter on the edge of buying them and then I hear more about sibilance and then I read another glowing review like this one from someone who clearly loved his SE530 (my favorite IEM) and compared them with one of my sources (iphone 3G) so looks like the wallet draining disease is gonna win... curse you head-fi
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post #870 of 1755
12/6/08 at 2:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by qusp View Post
this is so painful I teeter on the edge of buying them and then I hear more about sibilance and then I read another glowing review like this one from someone who clearly loved his SE530 (my favorite IEM) and compared them with one of my sources (iphone 3G)
I'm in the exact same position and it's driving me nuts.... The sibilance is clearly an issue for some people. I've seen plenty of posts of people asking how to get rid of it, so it's not like it's just some imaginary problem that you can ignore when deciding on whether or not to spend $400 on them.
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